Broken Hill's Royal Exchange Hotel (Far West New South Wales, Outback Australia)
Broken Hill is a well-known mining town in the far west of New South Wales. Whilst it is most famous for its mineral wealth, Broken Hill also has a reputation for its hotels, with no less than 71 being licensed in the city's history.
The Royal Exchange Hotel is an imposing two storey art deco style hotel building, and being situated at the corner of Argent and Chloride Streets, it is arguably at the centre of Broken Hill's central business district. In considering its history, it is important to take into account the history of Broken Hill hotels generally.
The Broken Hill settlement grew spectacularly from the first ore discoveries of 1883. On the 31st of July 1885 the first hotel, the Bonanza Hotel, was opened on the corner of Argent Lane and Delamore Street by William Delamore. Unfortunately, it was destroyed by fire on the 6th of February 1894 and the license was cancelled on the 8th of September 1894. The hotel site is now a car park for the City Art Gallery. The only other hotel to be licensed in 1885 was the nearby Silver King Hotel on the corner of Delamore and Argent Streets which was licensed on the 9th of October 1885. It closed in 1993, but its building survives today, and is among the oldest surviving hotel buildings. Five hotels were licensed in 1886, one of which, the BHP, (or, the West Darling Hotel), is the city's oldest surviving licensed hotel. Five more hotels were licensed in 1887 and in 1888 no less than 40 hotels received licenses, making a total of 52 licenses issued in Broken Hill's first five years.
The fifty third hotel license for Broken Hill was granted at the Silverton Licensing Court by Messrs Wyman Brown and J J Williams, LM's, to Barnett Harris on the 25th of Janurary 1889 for the Royal Exchange Hotel and the hotel opened that day. The Royal Exchange Hotel most likely takes its name from the nearby Broken Hill Stock Exchange which was in operation at the time. An Exchange Hotel (now the Theatre Royal Hotel) had opened almost opposite the Stock Exchange in 1886, and it is not unusual to use the "exchange" name for buildings near a Stock Exchange. The Broken Hill Stock Exchange was situated in Argent Street almost next door to the Royal Exchange Hotel, and the facade of the building survives.
The original Royal Exhange Hotel building was of single storey made from stone and brick with an iron roof. It was built and owned by Barnett Harris who was alsot the first licensee. The Argent Street for on the 5th of November 1888 caused £800 (about $110 000) worth of damage to three shops also being built by Harris and it is reasonable to assume that this damage extended to the partially built Royal Exchange Hotel. The damage must not have been to severe however, as the hotel opened for business 11 weeks later.
A newspaper article has stated that the Royal Exchange Hotel building was brought in from Parramatta by means of bullock wagon in 1886. It was said to have been owned by W Reynolds and destroyed in the Argent Street fire of 1888. This story is incorrect and refers to the Exchange (now Theatre Royal) Hotel nearby which Reynolds owned and transported from Prunamoota. Reynolds was the first licensee of the Exchange Hotel, but never a licensee of the Royal Exchange Hotel.
In its early days the Royal Exchange Hotel was no stranger to dramas. On the 6th of March 1889, fire destroyed a small building owned by licensee Harris in Argent Lane (Gawler Place) behind the hotel. In November 1890 a William Kilroy died after being ejected drunk from the hotel. The inquest into his death was conducted at the Mayflower Hotel which was situated at 196 Chloride Street. The Mayflower Hotel closed in 1893.
Rebuilding the Hotel:
By the 1930s the Royal Exchange Hotel was owned by the South Australian Brewing Company (SABC), who also owned the Freemasons (now BHP/West Darling) Hotel. In 1936 the SABC disposed of the Freemasons Hotel to rival brewers Tooth & Co of Sydney and this then left SABC without a quality hotel in Broken Hill. As early as 1936 SABC had announced that they were considering rebuilding the Royal Exchange as a luxury hotel, to give them a means to satisfy the growing market for such accommodation. The lack of quality accommodation in Broken Hill was receiving much unfavourable press coverage, so the move by the SABC was well timed and well received, but nothing happened for about two years.
In Janurary 1938, the SABC proposed to rebuild the Royal Exchange Hotel as a four storey building with 44 rooms, at a cost of £45000 (about $3.6mil), but the project was reduced in scale to a new two storey building with the cost estimated at the time of £33000 (about $3.35mil). The architects were F Kenneth Milne and Associates of Adelaide. In December 1939 an Application was made to the Licensing Court for approval for the rebuilding work which involved demolition of the existing hotel and the erected of a new two strorey building. This was approved by the Licensing Court on the 14th of December 1939. Local folklore says that the construction stone came from the old shearing sheds at Mount Gipps Station, however this is not confirmed in the architect's specifications. The construction of the new hotel was carried out by builders Fricks Bros, and completed in late 1941 at a final cost reported as £48000 (about $3.5mil). During the construction period, demolition of the old hotel was carried out progressively and sections of the new hotel built. This allowed the hotel to continue to trade temporary bar facilities, which were moved several times during the rebuilding work.
The completed building had 33 rooms and 13 bathrooms, and boasted a number of features which were modern for their day including air conditioning (claimed to be one of the first hotels in Australia to be so equipped), telephones in most rooms, a public bar counter 100 feet (30m) long and a saloon bar counter 46 feet (14m) long.
The 1941 building is substantially the building which exisits today, but there have been a number of alterations to the interior of the hotel over the years since.
Of interest, whilst the SABC were rebuilding their Royal Exchange Hotel, Tooth & Co were upgrading the Freemasons (now BHP/West Darling) Hotel which they had bought from the SABC in 1936. Tooths also owned the luxury Grand Hotel, diagonally opposite the Royal Exchange (now trading as a guesthouse), and were eager to keep their dominance in the luxury hotel market. Whilst the Freemasons was not completely rebuilt as was the Royal Exchange, none the less Tooths spent 46000 (about 3.5mil) on their purchase of the Freemasons Hotel from SABC and on its rebuilding work. All this building work on the Royal Exchange and Freemasons Hotels happened whilst there was wartime restrictions on building works generally, but somehow in Broken Hill $7mil in today's money was spent on luxury hotels. How this got around the wartime building restrictions remains a mystery.
The Royal Exchange Hotel Today:
The Royal Exchange was acquired by the Broken Hill Legion Club in 2001, and they set about undertaking a complete refurbishment of it, providing the facilities that it presents today. There are currently 23 rooms and all have ensuite bathrooms. The lounge and dining areas are superbly furnished giving the hotel a magnificent ambience. In a link with the past, some of the former 1941 "business" facilities remain near the reception desk.
On the 8th of December 2011, the Royal Exchange Hotel was purchased by the current owner, John Gavranich.
Source: Barrier Miner 26/1/1889, Silver Age 7/11/1888, Barrier Miner 6/6/1969, Barrier Miner 7/3/1889, Barrier Miner 25/11/1890, Noel Butlin Archives Centre, Russel & Yellan Architects, Barrier Miner 14/12/1939, Barrier Miner 6/12/1941, K Dansie (1986), the Broken Hill City Library, University of SA Architectural Museum, the Tooth & Co Files N60 - YC (ANU Canberra).
Broken Hill's Royal Exchange Hotel (Far West New South Wales, Outback Australia)
Broken Hill is a well-known mining town in the far west of New South Wales. Whilst it is most famous for its mineral wealth, Broken Hill also has a reputation for its hotels, with no less than 71 being licensed in the city's history.
The Royal Exchange Hotel is an imposing two storey art deco style hotel building, and being situated at the corner of Argent and Chloride Streets, it is arguably at the centre of Broken Hill's central business district. In considering its history, it is important to take into account the history of Broken Hill hotels generally.
The Broken Hill settlement grew spectacularly from the first ore discoveries of 1883. On the 31st of July 1885 the first hotel, the Bonanza Hotel, was opened on the corner of Argent Lane and Delamore Street by William Delamore. Unfortunately, it was destroyed by fire on the 6th of February 1894 and the license was cancelled on the 8th of September 1894. The hotel site is now a car park for the City Art Gallery. The only other hotel to be licensed in 1885 was the nearby Silver King Hotel on the corner of Delamore and Argent Streets which was licensed on the 9th of October 1885. It closed in 1993, but its building survives today, and is among the oldest surviving hotel buildings. Five hotels were licensed in 1886, one of which, the BHP, (or, the West Darling Hotel), is the city's oldest surviving licensed hotel. Five more hotels were licensed in 1887 and in 1888 no less than 40 hotels received licenses, making a total of 52 licenses issued in Broken Hill's first five years.
The fifty third hotel license for Broken Hill was granted at the Silverton Licensing Court by Messrs Wyman Brown and J J Williams, LM's, to Barnett Harris on the 25th of Janurary 1889 for the Royal Exchange Hotel and the hotel opened that day. The Royal Exchange Hotel most likely takes its name from the nearby Broken Hill Stock Exchange which was in operation at the time. An Exchange Hotel (now the Theatre Royal Hotel) had opened almost opposite the Stock Exchange in 1886, and it is not unusual to use the "exchange" name for buildings near a Stock Exchange. The Broken Hill Stock Exchange was situated in Argent Street almost next door to the Royal Exchange Hotel, and the facade of the building survives.
The original Royal Exhange Hotel building was of single storey made from stone and brick with an iron roof. It was built and owned by Barnett Harris who was alsot the first licensee. The Argent Street for on the 5th of November 1888 caused £800 (about $110 000) worth of damage to three shops also being built by Harris and it is reasonable to assume that this damage extended to the partially built Royal Exchange Hotel. The damage must not have been to severe however, as the hotel opened for business 11 weeks later.
A newspaper article has stated that the Royal Exchange Hotel building was brought in from Parramatta by means of bullock wagon in 1886. It was said to have been owned by W Reynolds and destroyed in the Argent Street fire of 1888. This story is incorrect and refers to the Exchange (now Theatre Royal) Hotel nearby which Reynolds owned and transported from Prunamoota. Reynolds was the first licensee of the Exchange Hotel, but never a licensee of the Royal Exchange Hotel.
In its early days the Royal Exchange Hotel was no stranger to dramas. On the 6th of March 1889, fire destroyed a small building owned by licensee Harris in Argent Lane (Gawler Place) behind the hotel. In November 1890 a William Kilroy died after being ejected drunk from the hotel. The inquest into his death was conducted at the Mayflower Hotel which was situated at 196 Chloride Street. The Mayflower Hotel closed in 1893.
Rebuilding the Hotel:
By the 1930s the Royal Exchange Hotel was owned by the South Australian Brewing Company (SABC), who also owned the Freemasons (now BHP/West Darling) Hotel. In 1936 the SABC disposed of the Freemasons Hotel to rival brewers Tooth & Co of Sydney and this then left SABC without a quality hotel in Broken Hill. As early as 1936 SABC had announced that they were considering rebuilding the Royal Exchange as a luxury hotel, to give them a means to satisfy the growing market for such accommodation. The lack of quality accommodation in Broken Hill was receiving much unfavourable press coverage, so the move by the SABC was well timed and well received, but nothing happened for about two years.
In Janurary 1938, the SABC proposed to rebuild the Royal Exchange Hotel as a four storey building with 44 rooms, at a cost of £45000 (about $3.6mil), but the project was reduced in scale to a new two storey building with the cost estimated at the time of £33000 (about $3.35mil). The architects were F Kenneth Milne and Associates of Adelaide. In December 1939 an Application was made to the Licensing Court for approval for the rebuilding work which involved demolition of the existing hotel and the erected of a new two strorey building. This was approved by the Licensing Court on the 14th of December 1939. Local folklore says that the construction stone came from the old shearing sheds at Mount Gipps Station, however this is not confirmed in the architect's specifications. The construction of the new hotel was carried out by builders Fricks Bros, and completed in late 1941 at a final cost reported as £48000 (about $3.5mil). During the construction period, demolition of the old hotel was carried out progressively and sections of the new hotel built. This allowed the hotel to continue to trade temporary bar facilities, which were moved several times during the rebuilding work.
The completed building had 33 rooms and 13 bathrooms, and boasted a number of features which were modern for their day including air conditioning (claimed to be one of the first hotels in Australia to be so equipped), telephones in most rooms, a public bar counter 100 feet (30m) long and a saloon bar counter 46 feet (14m) long.
The 1941 building is substantially the building which exisits today, but there have been a number of alterations to the interior of the hotel over the years since.
Of interest, whilst the SABC were rebuilding their Royal Exchange Hotel, Tooth & Co were upgrading the Freemasons (now BHP/West Darling) Hotel which they had bought from the SABC in 1936. Tooths also owned the luxury Grand Hotel, diagonally opposite the Royal Exchange (now trading as a guesthouse), and were eager to keep their dominance in the luxury hotel market. Whilst the Freemasons was not completely rebuilt as was the Royal Exchange, none the less Tooths spent 46000 (about 3.5mil) on their purchase of the Freemasons Hotel from SABC and on its rebuilding work. All this building work on the Royal Exchange and Freemasons Hotels happened whilst there was wartime restrictions on building works generally, but somehow in Broken Hill $7mil in today's money was spent on luxury hotels. How this got around the wartime building restrictions remains a mystery.
The Royal Exchange Hotel Today:
The Royal Exchange was acquired by the Broken Hill Legion Club in 2001, and they set about undertaking a complete refurbishment of it, providing the facilities that it presents today. There are currently 23 rooms and all have ensuite bathrooms. The lounge and dining areas are superbly furnished giving the hotel a magnificent ambience. In a link with the past, some of the former 1941 "business" facilities remain near the reception desk.
On the 8th of December 2011, the Royal Exchange Hotel was purchased by the current owner, John Gavranich.
Source: Barrier Miner 26/1/1889, Silver Age 7/11/1888, Barrier Miner 6/6/1969, Barrier Miner 7/3/1889, Barrier Miner 25/11/1890, Noel Butlin Archives Centre, Russel & Yellan Architects, Barrier Miner 14/12/1939, Barrier Miner 6/12/1941, K Dansie (1986), the Broken Hill City Library, University of SA Architectural Museum, the Tooth & Co Files N60 - YC (ANU Canberra).